Skip to main content

Review of Buckets by University of Northampton BA Actors at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The second of the two University of Northampton shows performed in the Royal for 2022 by the BA Actors was Buckets by Adam Barnard, and it was a much more entertaining, cleaner and better-performed show than The Gut Girls the day before.

Erin Jones
Barnard’s Buckets takes the form of thirty-three interconnected scenes revolving around the loose link of “buckets” be they sick buckets, bucket lists or a bit of charity bucket shaking, the scenes weave and meander with occasionally recurring characters and situations. It is very similar to other plays performed by the BA Actors of the past, including perhaps most obviously Love + Information, and as with such a format, it is also perfect for the University actors to perform.

Sam Day
It is a delightfully delivered play, with strong performances and characterisation across the board from all the performers. I particular liked Erin Jones’ loving mother, tasked with dealing with the eventual death of her daughter, and it was great to have this poignant character crossover into the much more comedic “Kiss Me” sequences, which saw Sam Day’s character in constant attempts to get ladies to kiss him. Hugely entertaining. Owain Hedd in several scenes makes a great impact, showing the best quality in comedy situations and he also has a distinctive look which might take him far.

Carly May
The contrast in scenes was excellent, weaving from full comedy to sadness and each of the scenes was really well balanced lengthwise, never outstaying their welcome. One particular scene towards the end was immensely powerful as Carly May’s character filmed on her phone on a train platform what was likely to be her final moments, were it not for the arrival Neyha Solanki as a would-be thief. While there was a huge power in the poignancy of this scene, writer Barnard also adds much subtle humour and May and Solanki are excellent in it.

Carly May
The play takes place on a set of playground equipment and a park bench and the simple set offers its pros and cons, slightly irritating is the constant head ducking under the slide for the performers, particularly for the ever-present observer and scene changer Crystal Liu. It might seem churlish to comment on this, but it interferes with the swift scene changing, and I felt, a better position of the set might have lessened this impact. The set does however provide several perfect backdrops for each of the short scenes.

However, whatever criticism is placed on Buckets, it is minor, as this is very much the BA Actors of Northampton, doing what they do best, nice stage presence, confident performances and the effective telling of a clever and very entertaining play. Excellent stuff.

Entertaining and well performed, this is every bit the BA Actors at their best.
⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Performance reviewed: Friday 13th May 2022 at the Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton.
Buckets ran at Royal & Derngate until Saturday 14th May 2022.

Buckets was presented by final year actors at the University of Northampton

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Of Mice And Men at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Other than, randomly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The War of the Worlds , John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men is perhaps one of the most familiar of stories to me. I have seen it several times before, and while at school, we studied it, and dissected it like the work of Mr Shakespeare, but with Steinbeck, I got out the other side still liking it. This brand new version from Selladoor Productions, which opened in Canterbury last week, brings a by-the-book presentation of the trials of George and his slow, but incredibly strong friend, Lennie, to the stage. Perhaps, this is its first issue blocking a huge success from this production, in that it rarely does anything brave or different. It's clearly been expertly cast visually, with the hulking form of Matthew Wynn as Lennie, and the diminutive (in comparison) Richard Keightley and Kamran Darabi-Ford as George and Curley respectively. Darabi-Ford especially perfect in his tremendously awkward scenes wit...
Read more

Review of Northern Ballet - The Great Gatsby at Milton Keynes Theatre

This production of The Great Gatsby performed by Northern Ballet was my fifth encounter at the theatre of a full ballet production and as before, I happily share my review of the show with nearly zero knowledge of-the-art form and more of a casual theatre-goer. You could say that this is a poor direction to come in on a review, but I would say that casual audience are the ones to review this for. Over the years, Northern Ballet has set quite a high benchmark for ballet productions, and any audience member who is worth their salt as a ballet fan would no doubt have tickets for this new touring version of the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby , lovingly created by David Nixon OBE. So much is Nixon part of the very fabric of this show, that he not only provides the choreography and direction but also the initial scenario and costume design (assisted by Julie Anderson). So, discounting those ballet fans already sitting in the audience, what does this offer for the more casual theatre-goer ...
Read more

Review of Flash Festival 2016: Red Inquisition by Memoir Theatre at Castle Hill URC

Red Inquisition from Memoir Theatre evolves from a theatre groups creation of a play based on the 1947 Hollywood blacklist and McCarthyism So that I can get it out the way early on and take this review in a more upbeat direction that Red Inquisition deserves, I am going to get a real bugbear done first. There was a huge negative for me from this production and one that I ended up getting negative vibes from. For me there was far too much video and audio footage in this production. Much of it was while excellently researched, surplus to requirements. The were a couple of occasions especially where we saw material repeated on screen that had already been performed. The show did not need this and for me theatre is not about watching a screen in any case, its about seeing performances. This however does need to be taken as a positive as what I am simply saying is that I wanted more acting from the trio of Daniel Hadjivarnava, Ciara Goldsberry and Jaryd Headley as they work excellently ...
Read more